Preliminary studies of electrospun guar gum scaffolds for drug controlled delivery

CORTEZ TORNELLO P; ISLAN GA; MUKHERJEE A; ABRAHAM GA; CASTRO GR

La Plata

Workshop; International workshop on drug design and neglected tropical diseases; 2016

Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, UNLP

Biopolymer-based nanofibrous scaffolds are being studied because its potential for applications in the medical andpharmaceutical fields. Guar gum (GG), a biopolymer obtained from the seeds of Cyamopsis tetragonalobus, is achain of b-D-mannose units interposed with a-D-galactose moiety. GG is used in pharmaceuticals application fortransdermal, intestinal or colonic drug delivery.In this work, GG nanofibrous scaffolds were obtained by electrospinning technique from polymer aqueous solutionswith different amounts of aqueous solution of trisodium trimetaphosphate (STMP). STMP was used as crosslinker,reducing the swelling.GG scaffolds were characterized in terms of fiber diameter (as measured by scanning electron microscopy - SEM),thermal properties (differential scanning calorimetry - DSC) and swelling degree in sodium chloride solutions.